Play

Disable your screen reader before downloading. Playback starts immediately after pressing enter. Use space bar to pause or play, and up and down arrows to control volume. Use left arrow to rewind and right arrow to fast forward.

US President Barack Obama talks about his own experience of racism

In the wake of the vigilante killing of young unarmed black US teenager, US president Barack Obama has talked about his own experience of racism.

Transcript

icon-plusicon-minus

ELIZABETH JACKSON: The US president Barack Obama today has given a very personal account of his own experiences of racism and has called on Americans to ask themselves if they were doing enough to "judge people by their character" rather than the colour of their skin.

In a 17-minute speech he addressed the "pain" of the African American community over a history of racism, poverty, bias in law, and a recent judgment which found a man not guilty of shooting an unarmed 17-year-old black teenager in Florida.

Our North America correspondent Michael Vincent reports.

MICHAEL VINCENT: With deep anger over the acquittal of George Zimmerman, who shot Trayvon Martin, president Barack Obama got straight to the point.

BARACK OBAMA: When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying that is that Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago.

MICHAEL VINCENT: Today, Barack Obama took to the lectern in the White House press briefing room unannounced and spoke live to the nation about race.

He says the African American community is looking at the Florida case through a set of experiences and history that does not go away.

BARACK OBAMA: There are very few African American men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store - that includes me.

There are very few African-American men who haven't had the experience of walking across the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars - that happened to me, at least before I was a senator.

There are very few African-Americans who haven't had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to get off.

I don't want to exaggerate this, but those sets of experiences inform how the African-American community interprets what happened one night in Florida.

MICHAEL VINCENT: While he backed the legal process in the Trayvon Martin case, he did make some very pointed remarks about skin colour: that if a "white teenager" had been shot, the aftermath might have been different.

President Obama also talked about the 'stand your ground' self-defence laws which have caused so much controversy.

BARACK OBAMA: I just ask people to consider if Trayvon Martin was of age and armed, could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk, and do we actually think that he would have been justified in shooting Mr Zimmerman - who had followed him in a car - because he felt threatened?

And if the answer to that question is at least ambiguous, then it seems to me that we might want to examine those kinds of laws.

MICHAEL VINCENT: Barack Obama says he doesn't yet have a plan, but he does think there's some areas which need to be looked at, and he's discussing them in the Oval Office: training for police at state and local levels to reduce bias and also, he says, focussing on helping young black males.

BARACK OBAMA: This is something that Michelle and I talk a lot about. There are a lot of kids out there who need help who are getting a lot of negative reinforcement, and is there more that we can do to give them a sense that their country cares about them?

MICHAEL VINCENT: President Obama has called on Americans to examine their consciences - whether they are doing the most to "wring bias from themselves" and consider the content of people's character, not their race.

President Obama says his children and their friends have given him hope that each generation, things are getting better, but it's a long difficult journey.